The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Virginia to carry out a purge of an estimated 1,600 people from its voter rolls ahead of the Tuesday election as part of a program to prevent ineligible noncitizens from voting.
Virginia had asked the justices to intervene after a federal district judge found that the state’s bulk cancellation of voter registrations, under an Aug. 7 executive order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), violated a so-called 90-day “quiet period” under federal law.
The high court agreed to the state’s request Wednesday without explanation over dissents from the three Democratic-appointed justices, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. The decision means Virginia will not have to reinstate roughly 1,600 people who had been purged.
“This is a victory for commonsense and election fairness,” Youngkin wrote in a statement following the decision.
Youngkin praised the work of state Attorney General Jason Miyares for his handling of the case and the “critical fight to protect the fundamental rights of U.S. citizens.”
The state argued that cleaning up voter rolls on a daily basis is vital to ensure fairness in the commonwealth’s elections. The lawsuit was brought by private plaintiffs who were backed by the Biden administration’s Justice Department, which aimed to undo the roughly 1,600 removals, citing evidence that eligible citizens were caught in the purge.
Justices left open the opportunity for a follow-up petition to the high court if parties to the case, such as the DOJ or private voters, seek a fuller review on the merits of the case.
But with just six days until the general election, the ruling allows Virginia to exercise its discretion to update voter rolls at least until Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Giles, an appointee of President Joe Biden, found that the governor’s executive order violated the 90-day quiet period provision barring systematic changes to voter rolls under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, citing a need to prevent any last-minute changes to voter rolls just days before the election.
PURGING VOTER ROLLS: THE ELECTION CHORE SPURRING ELIGIBILITY DISPUTES
The judge ordered the state on Friday to cease its voter purge operation and send notices to everyone whose registration was canceled under the program, saying the notices must make clear that they are still ineligible to vote if they are not U.S. citizens.
The DOJ argued that the program was systematic and, therefore, could not be allowed under the NVRA, but attorneys for Virginia argued that it was not and said there were ways to amend any mistakenly removed voters if they disputed their removals.
